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The Chicago Bears on Wednesday afternoon said they were moving on from Brian Urlacher after failing to come to a new contract agreement.

"Brian has been an elite player in our league for over a decade," Bears General Manager Phil Emery said in a written statement. "He showed great leadership and helped develop a winning culture over his time with the Bears. We appreciate all he has given our team, on and off the field. Brian will always be welcome as a member of the Bears."

Urlacher last week became a free agent after playing the last 13 years with the Bears and said he wasn't shocked his career with the team ended as it did.

"I am definitely not surprised. I kind of had this feeling this whole offseason with the way the whole thing was being handled," he said on WBBM-AM. "We made an offer, the Bears asked us to make an offer early, so we did. Never heard back from them. They made an offer, we responded to their offer and it was more like an ultimatum is what it was. It was, Sign this contract or we are going to move on. And I didn't feel like that was the direction I wanted to go."

The parting with Urlacher is just the latest change in what's been a busy offseason for Chicago.

The Bears fired coach Lovie Smith after a second straight late collapse left them out of the playoffs for the fifth time in six years, although they did finish with 10 wins.

Brian Urlacher's Storied Career

They replaced him with the offensive-minded Marc Trestman, hoping he could get the most out of quarterback Jay Cutler, and addressed two major issues in free agency by signing left tackle Jermon Bushrod from New Orleans and tight end Martellus Bennett from the New York Giants.

Trestman also said that the Bears wouldn't change much from the cover-2 scheme they ran under Smith, but he offered what seemed like lukewarm endorsements when asked in recent weeks about Urlacher.

Now, they're parting ways. And the Bears have big holes to fill at the position.

Their only starting linebacker under contract is Lance Briggs. Strong side linebacker Nick Roach -- who also saw time in the middle -- signed with Oakland.

It's not clear what's next for Urlacher. He had said he wanted to return to the Bears and had posted pictures on Twitter in recent weeks indicating he was working his way back into shape, but whether he will latch on with another team remains to be seen.

His agents did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Urlacher sprained his medial collateral ligament and partially sprained the posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the 2011 regular-season finale against Minnesota and hasn't been the same since then.

He barely participated in training camp, had an arthroscopic procedure in mid-August to relieve the swelling, and spent most of the season trying to regain his old form.

Then, he came up lame in coverage on the second-to-last snap of the Bears' overtime loss to Seattle in early December, an injury that ended his season and his tenure with the Bears.

Former Bears defensive end Alex Brown said it was a "sad day" on Twitter and called Urlacher the "best football player I have ever had the pleasure of stepping on the field with."

A safety with lightning speed, the 6-foot-4 Urlacher initially lined up at strong side linebacker for the Bears but lost the job to Roosevelt Colvin. He made the switch to middle linebacker during his first season when Barry Minter was injured and went on to become the NFL's defensive rookie of the year, the start of a long run that saw him anchor a defense that consistently ranked among the league's best.

Now, his run with the Bears is over.

Asked what he'll miss the most about his time in Chicago, Urlacher told WBBM, "The No. 1 thing is my teammates. I am going to miss them the most."